Director Imtiaz Ali explained why he made Jab Harry Met Sejal, which is widely regarded as his worst film. Starring Shah Rukh Khan and Anushka Sharma, the comedy drama continued Shah Rukh’s cold streak, and was a critical and commercial flop. In an interview, Imtiaz said that he deliberately wanted to make an ‘ordinary’ film after being labelled an intellectual director after Tamasha.
Chatting with actor Roshan Abbas on the Stumble podcast, Imtiaz looked back on how the audience’s perception of him changed after Tamasha. He said, “What happened after Tamasha was that people were taking me very seriously. There was this whole thing of, ‘Tujhe nahi samajh aayi Tamasha kyunki tu akalmand nahi hai (You didn’t get the film as you aren’t intelligent)’, and I thought, ‘My movie is being discussed in a club where I wouldn’t find admittance’. This is getting too much, and I don’t want to be like that, so let me make a film which is not intellectual at all.”
He continued, “Let me make an ordinary film… Every film you make you are attached to, but the reason for making Jab Harry Met Sejal at that time was to make something jisme koi dimaag nahi lagao, matlab, ‘Yeh picture bhi bana sakta hai Imtiaz Ali jisne Tamasha banayi (a film where you don’t have to apply your brains. Imtiaz, who made Tamasha, can also make this film)’. I felt it could be a new thing, I could’ve made it better. But I could’ve made everything better, but…” With a laugh, he said that audiences felt, ‘Yeh nahi samajh aayi picture (We didn’t get this film).”
After Jab Harry Met Sejal, Shah Rukh starred in just one more film, 2018’s Zero, before going on a self-imposed sabbatical for nearly five years. He made a resounding comeback this year with the back-to-back blockbusters Pathaan and Jawan, and will hope to complete the hat-trick with December’s Dunki. Imtiaz, on the other hand, followed Jab Harry Met Sejal up with another critical dud, Love Aaj Kal 2. He is now gearing up for the release of his biopic, Amar Singh Chamkila, starring Diljit Dosanjh and Parineeti Chopra.
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Imtiaz Ali says Shah Rukh Khan’s Jab Harry Met Sejal was ‘ordinary’ on purpose, because he didn’t want to be seen as ‘intellectual’ director – The Indian Express
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